


When You Stick a Penny into a Canon

by GnatTheRatner



Category: Abot, Archivistbot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24570400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GnatTheRatner/pseuds/GnatTheRatner
Summary: Penny Lukas, the most exciting dead-rabbit-selling girl in the Magnus Institute to not work there in 2020 always found herself close to the staff. While she rejected the Lukases, and her Uncle Peter was happy enough to reject her as well, she found herself a new family in the well-oiled machine of the Archival staff of the Magnus Institute, where she still had no plans of working. Through mysterious circumstance, Penny finds herself in a more difficult time. Not only is the Archives currently falling apart into madness and distrust, it seemed to somehow be early 2017. Nobody in the archives knows Peter yet, much less her. The loneliness that she rejected before now encircles her as she tries to reconnect everyone in this unfamiliar environment. With no care for paradoxes, she's determined to find out which entity brought her here, and kick it in the face until it sends her back. Truly a noble goal.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	When You Stick a Penny into a Canon

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'll be listing trigger warnings at the top of every chapter, so if you have something you need to be listed for future reference, please leave it in the comments.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

Jon was working late again. He knew he didn’t have to, but he felt he had to ensure he wouldn’t be interrupted again. Since the Prentiss attacks, he had been on edge. He knew someone in the Archives was out to get him, he just wasn’t sure who… Or if it was all of them. The tea Martin had brought him earlier in the day was cold on his desk, and the files he was supposed to read were left forgotten with the full cup. All his attention was engrossed in his charts and pictures and his trying to piece together what the truth hiding in front of him could be. The musky archives were suffocating, but it was nothing compared to the tunnels, and so he had found himself adapted to it. He knew the others knew he was on to them, but he couldn’t stop now, if anything it meant he had to look deeper and faster. Besides, how could he know Elias wasn’t in on it?  
All of these thoughts circled his thoughts as he updated the information he was keeping on his employees, and tried to figure out how that connected to everything. Martin said he was worried about him, Tim was just mad at him, and Sasha… Sasha wasn’t talking to him. It didn’t matter, he had stopped bothering her after the last fiasco. Didn’t mean she was off the list, but she wasn’t the most suspicious person in the Archives. He still needed to confront Martin about lying. He didn’t know if Martin was lying per se, but there was something about him that just made him know that Martin wasn’t being honest. He was certain Martin wasn’t telling him something, and he wasn’t sure why it bothered him so much but he needed answers.  
His work was messy, the boards he was using to try to untangle his thoughts a terrible mass of paper and pins. He was standing on tables, on chairs, pacing across the floor, anything but staying still. He was so close to the truth, he just needed to find out what that truth was. He sighed and sat back in his chair, examining the board in front of him. It didn’t seem to lead anywhere. He glanced at the tea Martin had left him and went to go dump it, hoping the walk would help to clear his head. He felt a twinge of guilt for not drinking it, but reminded himself it could be poisoned. In the break room, he washed out the cup and set it in the sink with the other dirty dishes. He paused to take in the silence and try to calm his head. He could just go home now, he wasn’t equipped enough to explore the tunnels tonight anyways. He could just go home and spend the night pretending his coworkers weren’t out to get him.  
The soft thumping in the walls distracted him from that thought process. It came from above him, in the large vent that seemed a bit excessive for a building of the institute’s size. It sounded almost as if.. Someone was crawling through them? He assured himself that couldn’t be possible, but after Prentiss that seemed so difficult to do. Jon had a terrible realization that the ashes of Prentiss upon his desk could be anything, that Martin blatantly lied to him. His heart rate shot up and he began to take in the situation with a panicked edge. The sound was approaching a vent big enough for someone to slip out of, and Jon found himself looking for something he could use for self-defense. Every inch of him wanted to run, but he found himself hopeful that out would pop out something that could be used for evidence. He knew he wouldn’t get that if he just turned heel and filed a report in the morning. Elias might cover it up or something, he couldn’t risk it.  
The vent popped open, and out dropped a humanoid figure. Wait, that was probably just a person. They were short, something that made sense considering the size of the vents, with long, dark hair and incredibly pale skin. They barely brushed the cobwebs and dust off of themselves when they noticed Jon, and their eyes lit up. “Jon!” They exclaimed, their voice almost childish, “I didn’t know you would be staying late tonight!” Jon tried to stammer back a reply, but as their eyes darted from his hands to hair to his.. Neck? They seemed to grow confused. “Did you get a haircut? And some kind of magic scar remover?” They gasped, “you didn’t go to Jared, did you?? Because there’s gutsy and then there’s downright stupid—”  
“What are you talking about?” Jon demanded, trying to remember who this “Jared” could possibly be, “who are you?” He glared and rose the pan threateningly. He hoped if he intimidated them enough, they would answer some of his questions, but the intruder laughed in his face instead. They doubled over with giggles and hiccups, as if Jon not knowing them was the funniest thing on the planet to them.  
They wiped tears out of their eyes before they continued, “I needed that.” They grinned, walking to the cabinets and beginning to look through the mugs, “long day. Incredibly long day. Like you wouldn’t believe the kind of long day I’ve had.” They frowned as they looked through the cabinet, “huh. Spring cleaning? Can’t find Ratner’s mug anywhere.” Jon tried to ask who Ratner was, but they cut him off with a snap of their fingers, “That’s right, you would have had to clean out his desk and stuff because he’s dead now, right? Good luck keeping that from Peter and Elias, by the way.” They did little air quotes with their hands when they said dead, which was. Incredibly concerning.  
They opened their mouth to talk again, but Jon cut them off this time, “I have no idea what the hell you’re going on about!” He exclaimed, “I’m not keeping anything from Elias, I don’t even know what a Ratner is, much less who you are!” There was fear in their eyes this time as they looked back at him. “Who ARE you?” He demanded, their face screwing up as if he had just crossed a line, or as if they had eaten something sour.  
“Jon this isn’t funny anymore.” They said, their voice low as they shook off whatever feeling passed them. “It’s Penny. You know me!” She insisted, opening her arms as if to present herself. He kept the pan raised over his head and she grew in exasperation. “Penny Lukas! My uncle is Peter, I lie about my age, I sell dead rabbits, my parents divorced and I ran away and my sister DISAPPEARED and NO ONE REMEMBERS HER and you KNOW how much that messed me up, Jon this isn’t funny!” She was tearing up, but Jon stayed strong. She glared at him, “if you keep this up I’m telling Martin.” He didn’t hide the confusion on his face. They “know” Martin too? Her voice was wavering, but she rose it, “I’m telling Martin and he’s going to be very cross that you decided to pull this on me.”  
“Why would I care about what Martin thinks?” Jon spat. Martin was growing on him, sure, but he was still good-for-nothing and a liar.  
Penny looked appalled, “because you’re engaged to him?!”  
Jon felt his face grow warm and he brought up his left hand, which was very clearly ringless, “does it look like I’m engaged?” He demanded. “Did Tim put you up to this? Wanted to teach me a lesson for following him home again? Give me a scare?”  
“I didn’t even know you followed Tim home once! What do you mean again?” Her eyes went wide, “Oh.”  
“Oh?” Jon asked back.  
“Oh no, this is the past isn’t it?” She looked around, suddenly disoriented, “I’m back when you went a bit mad and started assuming everyone wanted to kill you? What year is it?”  
“It’s January 2017?” Jon responded, “are you saying you traveled through time?” He tried to emphasize how insane that sounded, but she nodded, clearly convinced.  
“I’m from 2020.” Penny replied, shaking her head, her eyes wide as she worked through everything. “I would be in New Zealand right now. You.” She pointed at Jon, waving her hand slightly, “You don’t know me yet.” Her eyes widened further, any further and Jon was worried they could fall out, “my sister could still be alive.” She gasped. Jon watched her piece everything together and slowly pulled a chair from the other side of the room to her. She collapsed into it, hands on her head.  
There was silence as Penny pulled herself together. Jon was nice enough to cautiously get her a glass of water while he waited for her to calm down, piecing apart everything he had heard. Of course, time travel sounded like a pile of lies, but if she really was lying to him, she should invest in acting because she clearly had a gift. Between the clear roadmap of emotion on her face to the big, wet tears landing on the ground of the break room… it’s easier to assume she’s telling the truth than Tim managed to hire someone this convincing specifically to spite Jon. Finally, he decided to speak up, but paused when he realized he had no idea what to say, he was floundering. He went for the information at the front of his brain. “I got engaged to Martin?” he scoffed, not hiding his disdain and making Penny break into another fit of giggles. “Look, there’s a lot about this situation I don’t believe, but that’s clearly a lie.”  
“Nope! You and Martin were planning your wedding, and I’m sure he’s what makes you less of an insufferable prick.” She mumbled with a small smile and a wave of her hand.  
“This is a nightmare…”  
Penny screwed up her face, “you think that’s bad, you and Martin had a fit when I got married to Jane Prentiss.” Jon felt his blood run cold, but before he could panic Penny snorted. “Gotcha, I’m not big into bugs. Besides, I’ve never met Prentiss.” Jon gave her the stink eye to avoid shouting at her. He found he had begun to reach for the small circular scars left behind from the attack on his face. Avoiding Penny’s eyes and taking a deep breath, he brought his hands back to his sides.  
“That wasn’t funny.” He said after a few moments, his voice low. She seemed surprised at his reaction, but mumbled an apology anyways. There was an awkward pause, and Jon decided to take hold of the conversation. “Let’s say that unlike your very unhumorous jab just now, you’re telling the truth about being from the future. Elias wouldn’t appreciate me letting some delinquent spend the night inside the Archives without any evidence of who they claim to be, so you’re going to have to find someplace else.”  
Penny shrugged nonchalantly, “I’ve been homeless before, I can find somewhere to hide for the night.”  
“No.” Jon insisted, “if you don’t have anywhere to go, you’re getting a hostel. You’re not going to sleep on the streets in the middle of winter, that’s insanity.” He thought about it, “maybe, if this wasn’t a prank of course, you could go to your family, explain the situation to them--”  
“Har-de-har, have you ever met the Lukases yet?” She asked, wrinkling up her nose in what could have passed as disgust. “Believe me, I’m the only cool one anywhere near the Institute.”  
“Well that sure is convenient,” Jon scoffed. Penny squinted at him in disgust.  
“This isn’t a prank, Jon. Call the Lukas family— wait, don't actually do that, they hate that.” She thought for a moment, “tomorrow morning, ask your asshole boss about the Lukas family, ask if there’s a Penny living in New Zealand. Say I appear in a statement or something and you’re curious. I don’t care.” She looked up at Jon, “I ran away from home a year ago, and he’s nosy. He’s bound to know that.”  
Penny stretched in the chair and rubbed her eyes again as Jon thought about it. Elias was always really shady, but it was possible that Jon could get some genuine answers out of him about this if it was really serious. He couldn’t see much of a way for him to be turned into a laughingstock for asking about her before her claims, the Lukases were already a major part of the Institute’s funding, so it wasn’t as if Elias could possibly be unfamiliar with them. Claiming she was in a statement though… that could be easily checked and proven very, very wrong. He needed a more stable plan. “You somehow managed to travel through time, right? Maybe I could take your statement about that? If not that, maybe that ordeal you mentioned with your sister that you mentioned? Since it gives me something to actually show him if he asks?” Penny shook her head immediately, like the thought of it was insane.  
“I mean, I would love to, really I would. I would love to put myself on the radar of all the hellbeasts and nightmare spawn the past has to offer.” She gave Jon a wry look, “I think I’ll save the statement giving for later, if at all." The was a pause as Jon thought about it, but Penny couldn't sit through it. "Hey, why did you follow Tim home any—“  
“You mentioned someone named Jared earlier.” Jon tried to change the subject but she waved her hand.  
“If you’re not answering me, I’m not answering you. Capiche?” She said, clearly miffed at Jon interrupting her. Jon thought about it and stiffly nodded.  
“Well.” Jon started, his patience low, “if neither of us are answering each other, it might be best for you to find a hostel now.”  
“Yeah.” Penny agreed quietly, “maybe so. I’ll be taking the vents back out, see you tomorrow morning.” She muttered, pushing her chair underneath the vent she exited from. Before Jon could argue, she pulled herself into them and closed the grate behind her. Jon sighed, still mostly certain this was nothing but a prank. He realized he should have dialed the cops when he had the chance. Oh well, it might be better to see what Elias has to say about this in the morning. If she really is a Lukas, he could get in serious trouble for getting her in trouble.  
He moved the chair back to the table and put the pan back where he found it, suddenly exhausted. He debated against sleeping in his office and going home when it hit him, the shifting feeling of being watched. He looked outside the break room to find a tape running. “Huh.” He mumbled aloud, “didn’t know I left you on.  
And with a click, it was off again.


End file.
